George Eliot

In 'Middlemarch', George Eliot fashions a concept of life and society free of the dogma of the past yet able to confront the scepticism of the age.

This novel was George Eliot's favourite. It concerns a bitter weaver who takes on a young orphan girl and gradually transforms his own life and that of the girl. The novel combines humour, rich symbolism and pointed social criticism to create an unsentimental portrait of rural English life.